Demographic Trends and the U.S. Economy

An older U.S. population will create a drag on GDP growth, writes Research Affiliates' Rob Arnott. Policy makers will need to deal with it.

A large body of research in psychology and economics shows that human beings tend to form their expectations by relying on past experiences—especially recent ones. Malmendier and Nagel (2011), for instance, talk about investors who live through long periods of poor stock market performance and how this experience affects their risk-taking propensities… for life. The most famous example comes from the "Depression Babies," an entire generation that was scarred for life by the financial and macroeconomic shocks of the Great Depression. Of course the opposite effect also exists: periods of economic ebullience...